What do Coker, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Vanderbilt, Yale and the University of Pittsburgh have in common?

All have served as academic homes for recipients of the National Book Award for Poetry!

Terrance Hayes, a 1994 Coker College alumnus, has won the 2010 National Book Award for Poetry for “Lighthead,” his fourth collection of poetic works.

Hayes’s other books include “Wind in a Box,” which was named one of the Best 100 Books of 2006 by Publishers Weekly; “Hip Logic,” winner of the National Poetry Series Open Competition and finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award; and “Muscular Music,” winner of both the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and a Whiting Writers Award. His other honors include a Pushcart Prize, three Best American Poetry selections, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Hayes earned a master’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1997. Currently, he is an English professor at Carnegie Mellon University.